1. Technical Field
Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to bank and credit card accounts and, more particularly, to a hybrid account combining features of both a bank account and a credit card account.
2. Related Art
Typically, consumers have both checking/savings accounts at banks and credit card accounts at credit card companies. For example, a consumer may have a debit card for the bank account and one or more credit cards for one or more credit card company accounts. In general, banks and credit card companies provide the consumer with different services and different advantages. A bank may issue debit cards which enable the consumer user to withdraw funds for a purchase or for cash directly from the user's checking or savings account. Desirable features, from the user's viewpoint, of the bank/debit account may include cash withdrawals at no additional fee, interest paid by the bank on positive balances, and difficulty in the user's spending more than what is in the bank/debit account. An undesirable feature, in the user's view, of a debit card may be the user's inability to purchase an item that costs more than what is in the account balance. Such an ability may be provided, however, by a credit card.
Credit cards typically have lines of credit given to the user by the credit card company. Thus, a user may purchase items, but not actually pay for them (i.e., pay back the credit card company) until later, e.g., for 30 days or more, which may be viewed by the user as a desirable feature of the credit card account. The user may also purchase items for which the user currently does not have sufficient funds. Other desirable features and advantages of a credit card, from the user's point of view, may include the ability to earn bonuses, rewards, or awards, based on purchases, which may include, for example, cash-back, airline miles, hotel points, and discounts from partner retailers. Additional such advantages may include protection from a transaction, such as when goods received are not as advertised or when the purchased item is not received. This protection is generally provided by the credit card companies. Some undesirable features of a credit card, in the user's view, may include the requirement that the user pay within set time periods (e.g., billing cycles), the interest charged by the credit card company on unpaid balances, fees when a user exceeds the account's credit limit, and the ability to overextend the user's financial resources by purchasing more than the user can afford to pay back.
While many consumers have both debit and credit types of cards, there are many consumers that have neither. For example, a person without any purchasing or credit history or with a bad credit history may be denied issue of a credit card from a credit card company. Also, for example, a person without a bank account, such as a person from an unbanked society, would not be able to make use of a debit card.